Read From Dead to Worse for Free Online Page B

longer.
    The morning felt more like March (March in the south, that is) than October. When I got out of my car at the Methodist church, I raised my face to the slight breeze. There was a touch of winter in the air, a little taste of it. The windows in the modest church were open. When we sang, our combined voices floated out over the grass and trees. But I saw some leaves blow past as the pastor preached.
    Frankly, I don’t always listen to the sermon. Sometimes the hour in church is just a time to think, a time to consider where my life is going. But at least those thoughts are in a context. And when you watch leaves falling off trees, your context gets pretty narrow.
    Today I listened. Reverend Collins talked about giving God the things that were due him while giving Caesar the things due him. That seemed like an April fifteenth type sermon to me, and I caught myself wondering if Reverend Collins paid his taxes quarterly. But after a while, I figured he was talking about the laws we break all the time without feeling guilty—like the speed limit, or sticking a letter in with some presents in a box you’re mailing at the post office, without paying the extra postage.
    I smiled at Reverend Collins on my way out of the church. He always looks a little troubled when he sees me.
    I said hello to Maxine Fortenberry and her husband, Ed, as I reached the parking lot. Maxine was large and formidable, and Ed was so shy and quiet he was almost invisible. Their son, Hoyt, was my brother Jason’s best friend. Hoyt was standing behind his mother. He was wearing a nice suit, and his hair had been trimmed. Interesting signs.
    “Sugar, you give me a hug!” Maxine said, and of course I did. Maxine had been a good friend to my grandmother, though she was more the age my dad would have been. I smiled at Ed and gave Hoyt a little wave.
    “You’re looking nice,” I told him, and he smiled. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Hoyt smile like that, and I glanced at Maxine. She was grinning.
    “Hoyt, he’s dating that Holly you work with,” Maxine said. “She’s got a little one, and that’s a thing to think about, but he’s always liked kids.”
    “I didn’t know,” I said. I really had been out of it lately. “That’s just great, Hoyt. Holly’s a real nice girl.”
    I wasn’t sure I would have put it quite that way if I’d had time to think, so maybe it was lucky I didn’t. There were some big positives about Holly (devoted to her son, Cody; loyal to her friends; a competent worker). She’d been divorced for several years, so Hoyt wasn’t a rebound. I wondered if Holly had told Hoyt she was a Wiccan. Nope, she hadn’t, or Maxine wouldn’t be smiling so broadly.
    “We’re meeting her for lunch at the Sizzler,” she said, referring to the steakhouse up by the interstate. “Holly’s not much of a churchgoer, but we’re working on getting her to come with us and bring Cody. We better get moving if we’re gonna be on time.”
    “Way to go, Hoyt,” I said, patting his arm as he went by me. He gave me a pleased look.
    Everyone was getting married or falling in love. I was happy for them. Happy, happy, happy. I pasted a smile on my face and went to Piggly Wiggly. I fished Amelia’s list out of my purse. It was pretty long, but I was sure there’d be additions by now. I called her on my cell phone, and she had already thought of three more items to add, so I was some little while in the store.
    My arms were weighed down with plastic bags as I struggled up the steps to the back porch. Amelia shot out to the car to grab the other bags. “Where have you been?” she asked, as if she’d been standing by the door tapping her toe.
    I looked at my watch. “I got out of church and went to the store,” I said defensively. “It’s only one.”
    Amelia passed me again, heavily laden. She shook her head in exasperation as she went by, making a noise that could only be described as “Urrrrrrgh.”
    The rest of the afternoon